New LIVE Conversions Expand Upgrade Options

Marcus Webb

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — Incredible Technologies announced the availability of two new Golden Tee LIVE conversion kits. Joining LIVE’s dual-monitor Deluxe Dedicated Cabinet and Deluxe Retrofit Kit are the Standard Online Kit and Basic Offline Kit that can be installed in nearly any upright cabinet. Company executives said the extended LIVE upgrade products are intended to make the latest Golden Tee technology and games “available in a version suitable for any location.”

The Standard Online Kit, which is being introduced at a price of $2,795, works with any CRT monitor, although the company suggests using a high-resolution VGA display. Video cabinets upgraded to LIVE by this kit version do not employ the second monitor – the overhead LCD that provides real-time leader boards and entertaining videos – built into dedicated systems. The kit enables all online features, including prize play where allowed. It comes with a marquee, side panel graphics and control panel graphics.

The streamlined Basic Offline Kit, rolling out at $2,495, features three 18-hole courses, but does not include components required for online play. The basic conversion is designed to operate in locations where prize play is prohibited or where online resources are unavailable.

A padded, LIVE-style control panel for kitting into Golden Tee Fore! cabinets also is available for $150.

All quoted prices are the manufacturer’s suggested retail value before status and prepayment discounts.

IT’s senior vice-president of sales, Don Pesceone, said the new online and offline kits were created in response to operators’ requests. “We understand that a dedicated game may be too expensive for some locations,” the sales executive noted. He anticipates that the new kit incentives will accelerate the "retirement” of Golden Tee Fore! legacy games in favor of LIVE.

Unveiled in the fall of 2004, Golden Tee LIVE has won numerous awards from the Amusement and Music Operators Association for such innovative features as worldwide real-time tournaments, wireless connectivity and cashless payment capability. A Deluxe Retrofit Kit was launched simultaneously. This all-inclusive kit, which includes the same overhead display used on the dedicated model, upgrades existing Golden Tee Fore! cabinets to fully functional LIVE versions. Like the dedicated model, the $3,595 deluxe conversion product supports all networked playing and service features.

Earlier this year, Golden Tee LIVE machines began processing credit card transactions, enabled by a seamless management system for cashless micropayments developed by IT in partnership with Paymentech, the electronic payment technology division of JP Morgan Chase (see VT, February). The new Standard Online Kit and earlier Deluxe Retrofit Kit include the card-reading components for LIVE’s cashless crediting option.